Hampshire Economic Assessment

From April 2010 county councils and unitary authorities have a statutory duty to prepare an economic assessment of their area. The Assessment will enable the Council and its partners to support the delivery of a strong, stable and sustainable economy in Hampshire. The first Hampshire Economic Assessment has now been prepared and the full documents, including an Executive Summary can be accessed below. Specific chapters can be downloaded from the HEA and Extended Evidence tabs above.

The Hampshire Economic Assessment has benefited from consultation which generated interest from various organisations and institutions as well as individuals. Following the consultation the documents have been amended to incorporate many useful comments. However, any additional suggestions for improvement or additional data sets can be sent to the Economy team.

This is the first Assessment in a series. It is intended that all data sets used in this analysis will be updated annually with a full review every 3 to 4 years. The first substantial review will take place when the next Census 2011 data become available.

Since the publication of the Assessment various statistics have been updated. The recent changes to the local economy of the Hampshire Economic Area have been analysed and presented in the Hampshire Economic Assessment Update reports.

Extended Evidence

Worklessness Assessment

Alongside the main Local Economic Assessment, Hampshire County Council has undertaken an assessment of worklessness in order to better understand the reasons behind the variations in the labour market across the county. Although Hampshire has performed reasonably strongly in relation to employment rates, it has been hit by the economic recession and unemployment rates have risen. At a localised level, there are pockets of worklessness and, for some wards, the challenges are both persistent and acute. Continuing joblessness is associated with adverse social outcomes, such as poor health, and is linked to deprivation. Accordingly, we need to understand what is behind these issues, by looking at both supply and demand in the labour market.

In order to analyse workforce supply and demand, the Hampshire Worklessness Assessment looks at a number of key variables, including: economic activity and employment, economic inactivity and unemployment, number of benefit claimants, skill levels and qualifications, vacancies and recruitment difficulties. These factors all have an impact on economic activity and will aid us in developing ways of tackling worklessness.